Eric Bieniemy’s start in Washington must feel a long way from Andy Reid and the Chiefs

The last time Eric Bieniemy coached a football game, his quarterback was raising a second Super Bowl trophy.

The next time Eric Bieniemy coaches a football game, his quarterback will be making a second career start.

That should be the premise for a column about Bieniemy’s move from Kansas City to Washington: Can he develop a quarterback?

Oh, but it is not.

Turns out, the most significant adjustment Bieniemy will have to make in his new job is not life without Patrick Mahomes but rather life without Andy Reid — and I don’t mean the play-caller.

In case you missed it, Washington head coach Ron Rivera voluntarily shared an elaborate story this week that players have come to him to complain about Bieniemy’s demanding coaching style. He offered plenty of details and then added: “Eric has an approach, and it’s the way he does things. It’s not going to change, because he believes in it.”

If that sounds like he’s calling Bieniemy stubborn, it’s because he is. But Rivera actually went a step farther, contrasting that with his defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio.

“Jack has his approach. Having been a head coach, I think Jack has a tendency to try to figure guys out a little bit more as opposed to, ‘Hey, this is it. This is the way it’s going to be.’”

Life ain’t what it used to be, huh?

During Bieniemy’s five years as offensive coordinator here in KC, Reid served as his protective shield, the man ready to take blame but distribute credit. And there were some things to protect, which we’ve discussed but will get to again. Reid wasn’t practically begging someone to make Bieniemy a head coach; he was straight-up saying it, and during the season, no less.

And then there’s this.

Rivera pulled the rug out from underneath his offensive coordinator before he’s even called a preseason play — outing locker room friction for no apparent reason.

Really, he outed himself. Because we all know Bieniemy’s coaching style. If Rivera expected anything other than a loud, demanding personality, he failed to do his homework. This is part of what Washington signed up for when they hired Bieniemy days after the Super Bowl. In fact, I assumed it was perhaps the exact reason they signed up for it — to instill some discipline in an offense that’s lacked it.

It reminds me that when I saw Bieniemy in D.C. for the Chiefs’ visit to the White House, I asked him how he convinced the Chiefs to fly all the way to him to celebrate the Super Bowl so close to his new home.

“Or is it a long way from home?” I asked, and he smiled.

Because he knows. His coaching style is not for everyone. It takes some time to adjust. Whichever players in Washington complained are not the first to do so, nor will they be the last. He is indeed intense, and if you attended just one training camp practice in St. Joseph over the years, you’d know why. He’s the loudest voice on a field full of football coaches, often more corrective in nature than praising.

But analyzing the validity of the complaints is completely missing the point.

We all agree he’s demanding. In Kansas City, that piece was accepted because the man in charge made it accepted. Reid would even frequently classify it as necessary.

And while Reid so consistently tried to deflect negative attention from Bieniemy, much as you’d pry for something different, Rivera turned on a spotlight, screwed in a brighter bulb and tilted it squarely on Bieniemy.

Remember when Travis Kelce shoved Bieniemy on the Chiefs sideline during a game? “That’s football. It’s an emotional environment,” Reid said then, brushing it off.

How about after Patrick Mahomes could be seen yelling toward Bieniemy on their way to the halftime locker room in Indianapolis last year? “E.B. was just the calming effect. Sometimes things look different. Listen, it’s an emotional game. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Reid said.

Here, though, Rivera is all but publicly saying to Bieniemy: Hey, man, maybe try another way; the players are griping about you.

What are players going to think when Bieniemy chews one of them out for a mistake tomorrow? That Rivera has their back if they don’t like it?

It’s nearly impossible for a head coach to share a story in front of media that paints virtually everyone in a bad light — in this case your top offensive coach, the players and yourself, but Rivera managed the trifecta. If not for Denver coach Sean Payton’s remarks last month about his predecessor, this would be the most stunning thing a head coach has volunteered during training camp.

Both generate the same response: What is there to gain?

Rivera has done plenty of these news conferences, and while you can’t put it past someone to simply make a mistake — he did tell Bieniemy that “I put my foot in my mouth,” he shared with reporters in D.C. — Rivera is no dummy. Is he offering up a scapegoat on a season that doesn’t even kick off for another month?

Hey, we might be a little better, if only the offensive coordinator wasn’t so hard on the players.

Again, this isn’t about whether Bieniemy’s style is the best fit for Washington, or even if it was the best fit in Kansas City. We can have that debate, but it’s a separate one. There hasn’t been a lot of talk at Chiefs camp about what they’re missing. Maybe that’s notable. Maybe it isn’t.

But in Washington, this is a head coach who should know what’s coming his way, then undermining him before it all gets started.

If the players think Bieniemy’s voice is a little too loud in practice, well, their head coach just silenced some of its effect.